New indoor climbing gym to open in Squamish

Lauren Watson had an idea that she one day wanted to open a climbing gym.

Soon, she will see that come into being, as the 10,000-square-foot Ground Up Climbing Centre is expected to open its doors on Commercial Way in Squamish next month.

While Watson has spearheaded the new indoor gym, she has brought in other partners to put together a team to handle what has been an obviously involved process.

The climbing walls of the gym include two layers of half-inch OSB panels covered over quarter-inch Baltic birch plywood. Watson finds the wood finish particularly appropriate for Squamish.

All of this surrounds 40-foot steel beams curved into walls to provide the necessary contours.

Holes have been drilled into the structure and 15,000 to 16,000 T-nuts have been installed, using somewhere in the range of 50,000 screws. Even staple holes in the wood have been filled, but it is these kinds of details that are crucial when setting up a climbing gym, especially its route settings (climbing holds in patterns).

“That’s kind of the actual product of a climbing gym… the route setting,” Watson said.

As she toured the new facility, she looked around the tops of the walls on both sides and counted the route settings at 44, which she said will be evenly divided between climbing and top-roping.

Watson first moved to Squamish in the spring of 2012 to be a rock guide. She was thinking of going back to school for post-graduate studies but had always thought about opening a climbing facility. She had originally planned to pursue the goal when she was a little older, but after talking to a former boss in early 2013, she decided the time was right.

“It just seemed like the perfect opportunity,” she said.

Watson started working out a business plan by conducting research into other climbing facilities across Canada and the U.S. and looking for partners, first with Adrian Blachut of the Zephyr Café. More recently they have added others to the team.

“This year we ended up getting three more owners on board.”

Each partner brings strengths, and the team includes carpenter and stone mason Tyson Braun, who had designed for the climbing co-op in Squamish, as well as “numbers guy” Jeff Lightburn and “admin and organization guru” Jess Rigg, Watson said.

The group members’ research took them to Salt Lake City, where they were influenced to simplify the terrain and not limit the route settings. As a result, they ended up with a more flowing design than initially planned.

“It leaves us big, blank canvasses to work with,” Watson said.

Construction began last fall but really ramped up in the past three months as the team eyed an opening for the end of this year.

From the beginning, they also lined up sponsors, which now include the likes of Black Diamond Equipment and Five Ten shoes.

“We asked them for a lot. Because it’s Squamish, they were willing to comply,” Watson said.

The gym is designed for everyone, from beginners to professionals, and will provide a climbing experience that can be transferred to any climbing environment, she said.

“We want to make sure what you learn in this gym is transferable,” Watson said.

The plan is for a soft opening in early December, with the grand opening slated for Dec. 12.